1115 High St:Features: 4818m² development siteOutcome: sold with vacant possession for $1.95 million + gst, with quotes in place for the removal of 1170m² of various structuresAgents: Tim Julian & Janette Lillas

Argosy Property Ltd has unconditionally sold the office building at 626 Great South Rd, Greenlane, for $10.6 million, 8.2% over the current book value of $9.8 million. Settlement is scheduled for Friday 30 November.

Argosy chief executive Peter Mence said: “The property was held within our non-core pool of assets and we have taken the opportunity to continue divesting assets in an attractive vendors’ market. The settlement proceeds will initially be applied to reducing bank debt. While we still see the property market as being very firm, we continue to consider acquisitions & divestments where they fit within our long-term strategy.”

The 4-level office building has a net lettable area of 2647m², plus parking.

7 of the 11 homes auctioned at Barfoot & Thompson’s city office yesterday afternoon were cross-leases, and 3 sold.

Also up for auction were a townhouse not on a cross-lease, an apartment & 2 standalone houses, all passed in.

A Newmarket apartment auctioned in the morning didn’t attract a bid.

The brick-&-tile sausage block is the standard from the past and they’re generally holding buyer interest, though the one in the photo above, in Mt Albert, didn’t attract a bid. Recent indications from the auctionrooms are that owners of suburban units & cross-leased homes, having gone to market, are resisting price reductions.

The Goodman Property Trust’s $209 million sale of the Central Park Corporate Centre to a joint venture led by property fund manager Oyster Property Group Ltd has gone unconditional.

The trust’s manager, Goodman (NZ) Ltd, announced the sale last November, when one condition remained – Overseas Investment Office approval. Oyster is 50% owned by the ASX-listed Cromwell Property Group.

Settlement is scheduled for 29 June.

Goodman (NZ) chief executive John Dakin said in November the sale represented a significant milestone in the repositioning of the Goodman trust, marking the last of its major identified asset sales.

The property fronts Great South Rd beside the Southern Motorway at the Ellerslie-Panmure roundabout in Auckland.

John Copson’s Crown Group has bought 2 more large strategic Auckland commercial properties on Greenlane’s Golden Mile and on the Albany Village Highway.

Crown bought the property of just under 9000m² at 404-444 Great South Rd, Greenlane, for $25.5 million. It’s tenanted by Auckland Vehicles Ltd, which operates the Auckland Hyundai & Auckland Isuzu dealerships, together with adjacent dwellings.

A second property at 12 Oteha Valley Rd Extension, Albany, bought days later, has added 8000m² to the 10,000m² Crown already owns next to the site on Dairy Flat Highway.

Crown Group’s property general manager, Chad Cathcart, said in a release today the properties were bought as part of an allocation of $200 million approved by Copson Holdings to Crown to acquire well located New Zealand commercial property with strategic upside: “Both properties are fully leased and provide a range of future potential uses under the Auckland unitary plan.

“These acquisitions add to the string of property purchases the group made in 2017, which included the purchase of a further hospitality precinct at 136-142 Hurstmere Rd, Takapuna, for $25 million, to add to Crown’s existing portfolio of Takapuna landholdings.”

In a mix of 7 intensive living options at Bayleys auctions around Auckland last week, an ex-state house (pictured) sold more for its land value, and a One Tree Hill brick & tile unit also sold under the hammer, while a Hillsborough townhouse sold prior.

All up, the agency offered 34 residential properties at its auctions and sold 11. 3 were withdrawn or had their auction postponed.

An Onehunga warehouse sale started Barfoot & Thompson’s regular weekly commercial & apartments auction on a strong footing yesterday, but the entire residential auction market has been much weaker for months.

The apartments segment of the Thursday morning auction saw 2 of the 7 cbd apartments sold under the hammer, one of them a certainty in an auction brought forward.

Over 2 days, of the 26 intensive residential properties I logged (including cross-leases at only one of 3 auction sessions), 7 were sold at auction and one shortly after. 8 attracted no bid, and 2 were withdrawn from auction.

The intensive segment of the market covers a wide spread of homes, from apartments in the city centre to houses on cross-leased sites in suburbia. The steadiest part of that market is the supply of traditional brick & tile suburban units, on either ground level or one up, usually with the parking that many apartments don’t offer, and with less likelihood of the horrendous costs incurred in remediation when leaks are discovered.

About Bob Dey Property

The Bob Dey Property website is primarily about commercial & development property in Auckland, policies & strategies that impact on the sector, listed property securities and wider economic influences. It examines infrastructure, access & urban design issues, and presents ideas from around the world. The emphasis is on appropriate depth & context.